Multimedia conference systems allow multiple endpoints to interact by exchanging audio and typically also video data. Endpoints of such multimedia conference systems may for example be computer systems. At each endpoint, a user interface (UI) is presented to the user or users. The UI may display visual information and also output audio information of a communication session established by the multimedia conference system. The visual information typically includes video images recorded at the different endpoints. Similarly, the audio information typically includes sounds recorded at the different endpoints, e.g., the voice of a person participating in the multimedia conference.
A multimedia conference system may also be implemented in a mobile network. In such cases, one or more endpoints may be formed by a user equipment (UE) connected to the mobile network. In a mobile network, a multimedia conference system may be implemented on the basis of the Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). In such an IMS based multimedia conference system, an entity termed as Media Resource Function (MRF) is used to control media properties, such as sizes and bitrates of video and audio streams distributed between the endpoints. The MRF may also determine the way in which the endpoints are represented in the UIs at the endpoints, e.g., by determining which endpoint is represented by a large video image on the UI and which endpoint is represented by a small video image on the UI. The MRF may be split into a control part, referred to as MRFC, and a processing part, referred to as MRFP.
The layout as used at the endpoints for representing the endpoints may be statically configured. However, such a statically configured UI may sometimes be inadequate for certain communication scenarios. Further, it is also known to allow manual selection between predefined layouts by the user or manual configuration of the layout by the user. However, such manual selection or configuration of a suitable layout may cause discomfort to the user.
Accordingly, there is need for techniques which allow for comfortably and adequately controlling the UI of a multimedia conference system.